Sibyls Casket
- Gallery: Room 2a
- Maker: Enameller IP
- Made in: Paris (France); Limoges (plaques only)
- Date: 1530-1535 (circa)
- Object type: casket
- Materials: copper; enamel; gold; wood
- Museum number: WB.23
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Here is a natural-sounding audioguide narration script for visitors viewing the "Sibyls Casket":
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Before you is a striking casket, its surface covered in elegant painted enamel on copper, framed by a highly decorative metal mount. Five intricate enamel plaques adorn the casket, each showing a classical sibyl — a prophetess from ancient tradition. These sibyls are painted in a monochromatic style, known as grisaille, with subtle violet tones and gilded accents against a black background.
Eight of the twelve French sibyls are portrayed—each with a distinct attribute, such as the torch held by the Libyan Sibyl. These figures are drawn from the 1504 Livre d'Heures, one of the key sources for Renaissance artists.
The casket is believed to date from the mid-1530s, making it one of the earliest known examples of the grisaille technique in painted enamels. Signed "IP" on the lid, this work is among the treasures collected by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild and now known as part of the Waddesdon Bequest.
See it in person
Sibyls Casket is on display in Room 2a at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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